Comments on: Political Propaganda (It Needs to Stop)http://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/
Natural Hair, Beauty, Fashion and Makeup BlogThu, 08 Dec 2016 20:59:20 +0000hourly1By: Eniolahttp://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-103125
Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:18:38 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-103125I’m totally feeling what all of you are saying over the pond in England – Even over here it’s more a question of ‘The Woman or the Black Man?’ I’ve never seen the newspapers so interested in American politics since the Bush/Gore election (They’ve only just stopped with the Florida jokes) and I was disgusted when I heard those horrible smear campaign adverts.
And is it just me or has ‘Mr Dave Myers’ highjacked this topic for his own purposes…LOL
]]>By: Dave Myershttp://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-100639
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:41:51 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-100639I’ll start from early on in my evolution… I am a biracial man whose father is African-American and mother is Caucasian. My parents met in 1959 when my un-wed mother was in a nursing school where my father was employed as a nurses aide… my mother was engaged to a white man who was attending engineering school. My father had an African-American wife and (5) children at the time of his extra-marital relationship with my mother. At some early point of my mothers pregnancy with me she made the decision to marry her fiance, and to lie to everyone about who the father of her un-born child was… she achieved this by claiming that I had been afflicted with a skin-disease called “melanism”.

My mother and step-father had four more children together in the space of nine years after I was born, and we grew up together in a middle-class household in white america where the subject of “race” was never discussed. My earliest recollections of having to be aware of race was when I was asked questions about the color of my skin by other classmates in first grade… “Why was my skin dark?”, “Was I adopted?” race was certainly a hot-button issue in 1965-66 when I began school , but any awareness that my mother and step-father had achieved from growing up in their white neighborhoods in the 40’s and 50’s was insufficient in preparing them for raising a biracial child… and to complicate things, they were both in complete denial of their complicity in my mis-education. When I came home from school after having been asked questions by fellow students from my all-white school district, my mother then explained “the skin-disease story” to me… “other kids with this disease usually have dark blotches all over their bodies, so you should feel fortunate”. When I would tell my mother about other boys and girls who would call me names or act aggressively for no apparent reason, I began to understand that I would get no further assistance from her to explain this rationale… my step-father was even more removed from the conversation and would only add, “You know what your mother said”.

By the time that my step-father transferred jobs and our family of (7) had moved from the all-white Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Stow to the all-white school district of Portville in Western up-state N.Y. it was the spring of 1970 and I was in fourth grade, and already the veteran of many racial incidents and altercations between myself, classmates, and even some adults. My four younger siblings had also been told the same story, and had to explain the same things to their friends when asked why they had a brother who was black… “Hey, did your mother fool around a little bit??” I remember how much that hurt me when I heard it, and I’m sure that they felt just as badly when they did… nonetheless, this was a “subject” that we never discussed as a family, not once, at least in my presence.

I was taught through my observations of my mother and step-father to keep quiet about things that I wasn’t sure about, and I was also taught to ignore the obvious.

As I matured into my teen-aged years and began to experience societies issues and insecurities in coming to terms with this countries racial in-equalities during the 70’s, I felt an increasing need to rationalize and then codify the information that my mother had given me, regardless of what I was beginning to realize inside… I felt a growing discomfort/conflict, yet there was no one in my life to offer any prospective… I had learned that black people were a part of society that we didn’t talk about. ( There was a black family in my small town, and they were poor and lived in a run-down house near the river…I never had any opportunity or reason to associate with them)

I was a “B” student and also began taking an interest in sports where I was above average. Meeting other schools and student athletes were opportunities to then be exposed to populations that had not been inured by my story yet…I was just another black kid to them.

Communicating my experiences to my mother and step-father was difficult because they had no experience with racial prejudice, therefore when I had problems with other children it would be looked at as an issue that “I” had in getting along with others(as well as intra-family sibling issues).
Because “race” was being ruled-out entirely, by my mothers denial of my father, she could not logically use that rationale to explain any conflicts that I would have. My step-fathers complicity in this was to blindly support my mothers viewpoint.

The “white” viewpoint has always been that blacks(black society) were pretty well cared for, and what contact they did have would be polite and careful… What, with the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts being passed, the playing field had been leveled.(re: my mother and step-father’s generation)
The feelings and comfort of my mother were apparently what was important, and her inculcation had to have been partly comprised of the idea that white society acted as the gate-keepers and care-takers of an infantilized black population.

questions:

How has black society formed its identity?

What role models have been used, and how does white society react to positive
black role models today? (Are they held to a more critical prism??)

Is there enough information readily available for black people to easily form a
positive racial identity?

Is it important that black society is able to connect accurately the dots of its social
evolution in America? and is it also important that white society can connect those
same dots??

What is White Privilege?

What is White awareness?

What is Whiteness?

What about Affirmative Action?

Is Race just a social construct?

How do we improve our society in America?

Is there any other way(besides the attrition of the old guard) to achieve this??

]]>By: Jayhttp://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-100556
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:32:14 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-100556I’m not American and my coutry Kenya is still struggling to get out of a crisis triggered by a flawed election and I can’t believe the same dirty tricks that our selfish, corrupt politicians are being used by people who aspire to lead the coutry that is supposed to be the beacon of democracy. Its ridiculous and it needs to stop. If she does become president, how is Hillary going to turn around and preach democracy to the world when she was not practising it during her campaign. Makes me damn mad and I’m not even an American.

On another note, I really hope America gets it right this time. I’m biased towards Obama (ha ha he is part Kenyan after all!! Brokey, maybe you can come look for his cousin!), but i really hope you guys get it right this time. There is so much at stake. Not just for your country, but also for the rest of the world. The world needs an honest and visionary American president now!

]]>By: Kristin Ohlsonhttp://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-97379
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:52:30 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-97379Great post. I get incensed when I read those emails with all these bogus facts about Obama. I’m afraid my first reaction is often something like, “If you’re this stupid and don’t even bother to find out the most elementary facts, you shouldn’t be allowed to vote.”

I’ll be voting for him. And part of the reason is because he’s black, though I’m not. I want our president to look like the composite of who we are, to put that kind of face out to ourselves and the world. That’s not the only reason, but it’s one of them.

But also, my Reagan-Republican brother is voting for Barack because of his honesty, because he’s smart and visionary and doesn’t (or hasn’t) played the nasty poltical games.

I’m feeling very hopeful.

]]>By: coco_fierehttp://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-96324
Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:59:54 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-96324I was never going to vote for Hillary but I was open to see what she’d say and do to try to sway me. Between her and Bill’s ridiculous race-baiting comments and “slips of the tongue” I am more for Barack than ever. It was so funny to see that photo of the Clintons and Rezko (whose bond was just revoked today) after she brought him up in the debate. I am glad Bill is showing his true colors and revealing why he wants Hillary to win–so he can move back into the White House and not have to work in Harlem anymore. I so clearly see how his office in Harlem was part of a strategy to make them both seem more “down” with African-Americans. I can’t wait until next Tuesday so I’m voting on lunch tomorrow. Obama all the way!
]]>By: and I thought I just loved her for the make-up tips « Making a Home in Kabulhttp://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-95673
Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:20:20 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-95673[…] 28, 2008 and I thought I just loved her for the make-up tips Posted by homeinkabul under Afg, Islam, USA Afrobella is a friend in myhead. […]
]]>By: homeinkabulhttp://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-95671
Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:17:19 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-95671You’re the best, thank you for speaking out against the prejudice against Muslims.

I turned against the Clintons once they sold out Dr. Lani Guinier

]]>By: mistress_scorpiohttp://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-94463
Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:55:25 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-94463I think the Clintons have the most profound disrespect for the voters in general and black voters in particular. The email “whispering campaign,” the outright mis-characterizations of Obama’s statements, and most of all, the accusation that he injected race into the campaign when THEY were the ones to do it! It’s as though they know that if they can keep the press coverage filled with all these lies, that the electorate will be too busy or too stupid to find out the truth! It makes me so angry, that if the Clintons get the Dem nomination, I will vote Republican in the general election.
]]>By: cheetara2223http://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-94267
Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:56:45 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-94267Today I was listening to the radio and a lady called in to one of the random morning radio shows that I listen to. Girlfriend proceeds to say ” Uh, how do you feel about Obama running for president when his name is just like the other guy’s who had all the 9-11 stuff going on?” Child, do u know my yellow self turned cherry red !!! I do not need to hear this first thing in the morning to set my mood all wrong !! She follows this up with”Well he is Muslim and just turned Christian. It kind of makes you wonder what his agenda really is.” If I hear once more about a “hidden agenda”, I am gonna scream. I wish that these politicians could just please stick to the issues and stop trying to twist stories to make themselves look favorable. Barack has my love and support. It has nothing to do with him being black. It has everything to do with his vision for our country and our people- all colors. I really used to like Hillary until these—- SHENANIGANS !! I am disapointed. Her trifling campaign is makkng us look bad as women. And yall are totally right, when he defends himself, he is looked at as aggressive or an angry black man. He says nothing negative unless directly attacked. The other night when the issue came up of BArack defending a slum lord, uh, did yall know that her and Bill took a picture witht he EXACT SAME SLUM LORD??? Child, beleive it. In an undated photo ( Matt Lauer on the Today Show did stress that he did not have a date for the pic) she is posed up grinning with Bill and this same person that she degraded Barack for defending. Hmmm…. Who has the hidden agenda ?
]]>By: Bebromahttp://www.afrobella.com/2008/01/24/political-propaganda-it-needs-to-stop/#comment-94207
Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:14:50 +0000http://afrobella.com/?p=417#comment-94207Amen, Holden.
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